The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art. A conventional vehicle gauge, such as a speedometer gauge, typically has a light source positioned on a printed circuit board (“PCB”) to direct light to the gauge face or through the gauge face to make any indicia, such as numbers, visible to a person viewing the gauge. Additionally, gauges known in the art may have a pointer that is illuminated when light is directed through the pointer length from one end of the pointer.
While current vehicle gauges have generally proven to be satisfactory for their applications, each is associated with its share of limitations. One limitation of current gauges is that light can not be directed onto a second gauge face in front of the pointer using a light source behind the pointer. Another limitation of current gauges is that light can not be passed to a second gauge face in front of the pointer using current gauge structures, such as a single PCB. Still yet another limitation is that projecting light to a gauge face in front of a pointer traditionally requires wiring or electrical leads in front of the pointer, which may limit gauge function, such as pointer rotation sweep angle. Finally, current pointers do not permit light to pass through their thicknesses, so that such light may be further used in other areas of the gauge.
What is needed then is a device that does not suffer from the above limitations. This, in turn, will provide a device that permits a second gauge face in front of a gauge pointer to be illuminated but that does not require a printed circuit board or wiring in front of the pointer to illuminate the second face. Additionally, a device will be provided with a face in front of the pointer that does not interfere with pointer rotation operation. Finally, a device will be provided that has a gauge face in front of the pointer that permits indicia to be illuminated with a different color as the main or rear scale indicia and different from the pointer.